Abrdauth's Threat
by Matrix in the Shadows
Summary: Sequel to The Inheritance Series.
1. The Beginning

Wake up, Eragon! Eragon snapped awake. It was before dawn, and Saphira was standing on her bed, looking at him. He looked around for the source of the commotion when two large eyes appeared outside. Saphira was looking in the window at him. What is wrong? Eragon asked. An enemy soldier has been sighted near Ellesméra, Saphira told him. It had been two hundred years since the Varden had fought Galbatorix and his army. Since then, Eragon and Saphira had trained many young elves and humans on the path to Dragon Rider, including his present pupils Ny'ara and Ronteli, and their dragons, Yeara and Zinel. The Varden had been disbanded. There were becoming more and more Dragon Riders. Eragon's cousin, Roran, was dead. Hundreds of Riders had been trained but the vast amount of dragon eggs did not seem to be lessening, which, Eragon thought, was a good thing. It was the next generation of Riders. A soldier? Eragon thought, confused. He hadn't heard of an enemy soldier being seen since Galbatorix's rein except for the occasional group that tries to fight back against the Riders. We can take care of it, he said to Saphira, as he scrambled out of his bed. If there were Ra'zac ravaging about now, were they just doing this out of long lost retaliation, or were they being commanded? Hopefully the soldiers are avenging or hopelessly retaliating, he told Saphira, or we may have a problem on our hands. He was thinking of Galbatorix at the time, and he tried to shake the thought of him out of his head. Eragon said. Eragon quickly picked up Saphira's saddle, and his sword, Brisingr, and head out the door and strapped the saddle on Saphira's back, and clambered on. With a great whoosh of her wings, Saphira shot into the air toward the village. They were heading to Ellesméra when they saw the commotion. A lot of elves were huddled around something they could not see. They landed and got in closer. The elves made way for him. It was a dragon egg. "An elite team of soldiers were trying to steal it from us," an elf nearby said. "We killed them, but I think there will be more." "The queen should be informed," said Eragon. "We already sent someone to tell her," said the elf. "Good. I will take the egg back. We should keep watch around the border of the city; make sure there are no other soldiers around the perimeter of the city." 


	2. Finding the Lost Rider

Eragon, Saphira, Ny'ara and Ronteli were all situated among the dining room table of Eragon's house on the Crags of Tel'naer . Saphira was explaining why she thought it would be a soldier. Eragon was voicing her opinions. Soldiers don't just take dragon eggs for the fun of it, she said, so I think someone is leading them. Maybe he or she won't come, but I am almost sure some Rider turned to the dark ways. If we get to him quickly enough, hopefully he will still have enough sense to turn back. So Eragon and Saphira and some other elf spell casters went to find out where he was. The trainees wanted to come to ("We are old enough!") so Eragon took them along. They searched across Du Weldenvarden, around Bullridge, a little bit in the Hardarac Desert, and near the Ninor River, but still did not find anything. Finally, when they came across Marna, they found it. The elf, whatever his (or her) name was, had built a castle. They tried getting closer but found themselves in the sights of bows that were aimed at them from the wall. "If we fight here it will be useless," said Eragon, "They probably have a whole battalion waiting for us behind the gate." At that moment, an arrow, shot by one of the archers, land inches from their feet. They stepped back a couple feet. "Do not retaliate unless they try to kill you," said Blödhgarm, one of the spell caster elves. He was there along with seven other elves. Blödhgarm and his spell casters had fought alongside Eragon in the war against Galbatorix. Saphira, what do you have to say about this? Eragon asked her. I'm not sure how he got this many men in one day. He probably took some of Galbatorix's followers to help him get power like this. He also probably built the castle with magic in a very short time, and that means the walls and barricades on the castle aren't very strong yet, she said to all of them through her mind. "Unless we do something about it, the problem is going to get bigger," Eragon told them, "but we are more prepared this time than we were last time." He looked over at Blödhgarm, who nodded knowingly. "We should get back to tell Ellesméra, I think," said one of the elf spell casters. Everyone quietly consented. The spell casters got on their horses and Eragon got on Saphira. When they came back to the village there was a small crowd of young Riders waiting for Eragon and the others to tell them what happened. They landed, and Eragon said, "We must speak to the queen." The crowd parted and Arya came up to Eragon. "What is it?" "A Rider is turning against us, I think. He has a fortress in Marna. We were shot at by this arrow." He held up the arrow that had landed beside them. She took the arrow and examined it. "Very well. You may get some rest." With that said, she turned and walked in the direction of her palace, muttering under her breath. Eragon knew why. That was an arrow that was of the same make of the arrows of Galbatorix's men. 


	3. The Lethrblaka

The next day, after the excitement of the previous night, Eragon woke up. He was very tired, but he still had training to do. He could see Ronteli and Zinel in the distance, and he got ready for the day. Ronteli and Zinel dove down, and when they were feet from the ground, Zinel opened his wings, slowing him and Ronteli down. Eragon walked out to them.

"Today we are going to practice your swordsmanship," he said, as Zinel swooped out with Saphira. "Take this stick," he said, holding out a long branch to him. "Your position is this," and Eragon went into a position, holding out his own branch in a ready position, "You will want to be ready at all times, especially when I am talking to you, Ronteli." Ronteli was looking away at the time, because Ny'ara was walking toward them.

"We are doing sparring today," Eragon told her, "Grab a stick and join in."

After a while they got worn out so they sat down for a while. "You are pretty good," Eragon told them, "Yet I see room for improvement. Let's continue after lunch." He was starting up toward his house when he saw them. A winged creature was hidden in the shadows. He muttered a spell under his breath and some weeds started growing around the creature's feet. It angrily ripped its feet from the weeds and started towards Ny'ara and Ronteli. _Saphira,_ he said through his mind, _come as quickly as possible._ The two pupils slowly backed away from the creature. While Eragon moved forward to stand between the creature and the pupils, Saphira swooped down upon the creature with Yeara and Zinel close behind her and clawed and slashed it until it ran into the forest. _Hopefully that will warn whoever they are taking orders from that we are not people to be reckoned with, _Yeara said.

Eragon looked back at Ny'ara and Ronteli; they were shuddering. "What was that?" Ronteli asked Eragon.

"A Lethrblaka," he said, "a fully matured version of a Ra'zac."


	4. Clearing Things Up

Eragon let the pupils get a day off training to shake off the incident. He had gone to tell Arya right after the Lethrblaka had attacked. He also wanted some time to think about the mysterious ex-Rider. He wondered if Arya took track of the missions that she sends Riders to go on. The reason it was so hard to track the Rider is that there are hundreds of Riders and twice that many initiates. It would take years to ask all the Rider's mentors, unless…

"Saphira, we are going to talk to the queen."

Saphira was thinking the same thing. _To have everyone gather in front of the palace?_

"Yes. We better get going if we are to convince the Rider of his mistake."

Eragon climbed on Saphira and they flew towards the palace. When they got there, they found Arya sitting outside. Eragon ran up to her. "Can you call everyone to the palace as quickly as possible? I'll explain before they get here."

"Eragon, I can't just call everybody here if I don't know the reason. Tell me, and then maybe I'll call them."

"Fine. If we call all the Riders to a meeting and ask anyone who knew a Rider– " He stopped abruptly and pointed, "There is someone coming toward us."

Arya turned, and she and Eragon both looked at the stranger. He came forward.

"My apologies for interrupting, but I may know the stranger you are talking about. I was his mentor. His name is Colyan, but he has run, or rather flew, away from Du Weldenvarden and his teachings. He was always very temperamental, but now he has left, probably for good. If you find him, please try to reason with him, don't kill him please!"

"Alright. Thank you for telling us this…"

"Xyandu," the man supplied.

"Thank you, Xyandu. You are dismissed." The man bowed and hurried away.

Eragon looked back at Arya and saw that she was lost in thought. She saw him looking and quickly looked back.

"What?" Eragon asked.

"Nothing," Arya replied, "Just thinking." Eragon suspected it might be more than that, but he had more important things to think about than that, but he did not push her.

"We need to prepare the elves for war if necessary. Will you do that?" Eragon asked.


	5. Traveling To Marna

"Nothing," Arya replied, "Just thinking." Eragon suspected it might be more than that, but he had more important things to think about than that, but he did not push her.

"We need to prepare the elves for war if necessary. Will you do that?" Eragon asked.

As the next day came along, Eragon, Blödhgarm, and some spell casters had packed up and silently moved out of the city to travel to Abrdauth's castle in Marna. They took quiet steps, careful not to wake the people of the village. Eragon had decided against bringing the pupils just in case things turned violent on their mission of peace with the dark elf.

Blödhgarm and his elves got on some horses while Eragon waited outside the city for Saphira. Their plan was that he would go to the edge of the city on foot and wait for Saphira there.

As the elves rode up next to Eragon, he saw a shape appear in the sky. _Saphira, _he asked, through his mind. The shape did not respond.

Eragon thought he would have recognized her presence by now, so he started to get suspicious. As the dark shape got closer, he recognized it as Yeara. Ny'ara was riding her.

"Ny'ara," he said sternly, as Yeara landed next to him, "go back to your house. This mission might be dangerous and I don't want you or Ronteli going on life threatening situations before you finish your training."

"What about the trip to the castle?" Ny'ara pointed out stubbornly. "You let me come along then."

"Yes, but then we did not know what we were looking for. Now we know what we are up against. We need to get going, Blödhgarm."

"All the more reason to let me come with you!" Ny'ara yelled.

"I forbid this! Go to bed and keep your voice down, Ny'ara. This is unacceptable." Eragon told her.

"Fine." Ny'ara stormed back to Yeara and they took off back towards the city. Eragon looked up again and saw Saphira spiraling down towards them. She landed in front of Eragon and they took off, the elves trailing behind on their horses. "We had better hurry if we are going to get to Marna before noon, Saphira." Eragon said. He took some meat out of the saddle bags and threw it in front of Saphira, who raised her head and caught the meat in her mouth.

As the group moved slowly towards Marna, the sun was coming up over the Hardarac Desert. Eragon guessed that they should be there by noon, and he figured that would be the best time of the day to do a peace meeting.

The group got there at noon, being careful to set up camp out of the archers' range, and close enough to see the castle. Eragon went to Blödhgarm's tent.

"I'd better go to the castle alone. If I make the signal, come up to the meeting tower. Farewell for now, friends." He took off his sword belt and started walking towards the looming wall of the castle. He hadn't gone fifty steps when an arrow landed at his feet.


End file.
